Wang Jia Sha Restaurant at Elements Mall Hong Kong

When in Shenzhen for work, I would often go to Hong Kong over the weekend or for a day. I would buy their Tourist Day Pass (HKD 55) which entitles the holder to an unlimited number of rides on their MTR line (except for Luohu Station which connects to the Shenzhen border) for a 24hr period. The Tourist Day Pass came with two slips of paper entitling the holder too to a HKD50 Voucher which can be used at certain shops at Elements Mall and a HKD20 Voucher which can be used at certain shops at Telford Plaza or Maritime Square upon production of the tourist's passports at the respective customer centers.

One weekend in October 2009, I was wondering what to do with my HKD50 Elements Mall Voucher (the shops at Elements Mall are pretty high-end - Ferragamo, Coach, Gucci and the like so the HKD50 wouldn't go very far there) and decided on impulse to have a meal at one of their restaurants.

Wang Jia Sha, a Shanghai fusion restaurant had a hairy-crab set meal promotion (HKD 228)which caught my eye while I was walking by in search of food. On top of 1 hairy crab, one would get a bowl of soup (I chose sweet&sour spicy soup, middle right pic), daam daam min (noodles in savoury sauce, top right pic), two delectable siú lùng bàau (steamed pork dumplings, middle left pic), very tiny cup of Chinese wine and a choice of dessert (I chose the glutinous rice balls with seasame in ginger soup, bottom pics). However, as I was pretty hungry, I also ordered an appetiser - cold sliced toufu with century egg and pork floss (top left pic).

The Slog Reviews: 10/10. The appetiser is seriously orgasmic and tantalises your taste-buds with the richness of its flavours. Do not miss trying. The noodles were tasty and filling and so was the soup. However, these are not a must-try . The skin of the pork buns were so delicately and exquistely thin that when I put them in my mouth and bit down, my mouth was flooded with the sweetness of the liquid in the buns. Shanghai dumplings are famous for that. As for the dessert, as I don't like eating ginger I removed the glutimous rice balls from the soup and I could find no fault with the glutinous rice balls which were filled with green colored sesame.

The hairy crab (which they provided scissors to open it) deserves pictures on its own so here goes. The crab when it was served.


And here's a picture of the hairy crab which I asked the waitress to assist me in opening with the scissors.


The Slog Reviews: 10/10. Crab-lovers, if you haven't tasted hairy crabs, you are missing out on one of the greatest delicacies ever. Yes, this crab isn't fleshy, there is hardly enough meat. But it isn't the meat that we are interested in, are we? It's the cholestrol-laden egg in the crab and Wang Jia Sha's chef did a damn fine job of cooking the crab just right so that the yellowish roe was not overcooked (too hard, rubbery and tasteless) or undercooked (which would mean many trips to the washroom for you). Instead, it was a sensory delight on its own. The price of the hairy crab meal is also cheaper compared to eating it in Singapore.

I have to confess that I was so impressed with Wang Jia Sha and its menu that the very next week when I flew to Shenzhen again, I made it a special point to go to Hong Kong and to this restaurant again (of course I bought the tourist pass) to try out the other items on its menu. However, being just one person, I couldn't order too many dishes and in the end, I settled for the appetiser I had the last time and this glorious bowl of boiled shark fins, crab meat and rice.

The Slog Reviews: 10/10 - see the thick slices of sharks-fins in the bowl? Enough said. Be warned that the portion is rather small and the cost may thus be considered steep at HKD 55. Still, to a foodie, that is worth every single cent.

Address: Shop 1068-1070, Elements, 1 Austin Road West, Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: 852-2382 0101
Nearest MTR: Kowloon MTR Station